


hiccups

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:24:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: Carol has a case of the hiccups.





	1. Chapter 1

Madison Avenue, The Apartment  
Late Summer, 1953

Therese pulled a knife out from the drawer and started cutting cucumber slices onto a wooden board. She could hear Carol humming on the kitchen floor with sheets of newspaper scattered around beneath her with tubes and jars of acrylic paint. She was in the middle of painting the rooftop of her daughter’s brand new dollhouse she ordered from her furniture shop. The house was pale yellow with a mini porch swing and mailbox. 

“My only hope is for Rindy to like this,” Carol said, holding back a tiny paintbrush with a fallen loose curl dangling over her face. She swiped it away with the heel of her hand and stared at the dollhouse, longingly.

“Of course she will,” Therese answered. Laying the knife down, she grabbed a small ceramic bowl from the cabinet to dump the slices in. Then she took the bowl and brought it under the kitchen faucet sink to rinse the cucumber with cold water.

Carol yawned and balanced the paintbrush on a metal cap belonging to one of the glass jelly jars. Therese sprinkled a dab of salt into the bowl and carried the cucumber slices back to the table. As she set them down, wiping her hands on her gingham dress, Carol picked herself up off the floor with all the newspaper crinkling under her feet and sat down. She reached over to take a slice. The cucumber tasted watery and so fresh with a pinch of salt to give some flavor. Therese reached over and took a cucumber slice too. She loved them for having them as a snack.

After chewing and swallowing five or six slices, Carol began to have the hiccups.

“Oh * _hic_ * no,” Carol went. Therese’s eyes widened with amusement with her fingers holding a cucumber slice close to mouth.

“I need * _hic_ * I need * _hic_ * some water.” Carol sighed and pressed her hand up against her mouth, briefly closing her eyes once Therese quickly fetched her a glass and removed the bucket out of the ice box to drop a few ice cubes. Filling the glass up to the brim, she carried it to pass it to Carol.

“Thanks,* _hic_ * darling,” Carol responded with a slur in her speech. Scowling how much the disruptive pains in her chest the hiccups were giving her, she gulped her glass of water down with Therese watching her with pure fascination.

“These, * _hic_ * these damn hiccups,” Carol cursed. 

Therese grinned. She found her way around Carol at the table and leaned over for a kiss. Their lips touched with Carol’s hiccups still going through their mouths. Therese pulled away, giggling. Carol whimpered for another glass of water.

“I’m sure there’s something we can do to get rid of those hiccups,” Therese murmured, switching the cold faucet back on to fill up the glass again.

Carol opened her mouth to speak, but let out another hiccup instead.

* _hic!_ *

* _hic!_ *

* _hic!_ *


	2. Chapter 2

“Maybe you’re not drinking water the right way,” Therese said, passing the glass back over to Carol, who furrowed her brows. “Try drinking upside down.”

“Will that * _hic_ * work?” 

Therese shrugged and ate the last cucumber slice. She watched Carol place the glass of water between her lips, sipping a mouthful before holding her head down to swallow. She held there and waited a couple of seconds until her body jerked; producing another muffled hiccup.

As soon as she left the empty bowl for Therese to set it in the sink, Carol went back to finish painting the dollhouse. Her hiccups were so distracting, her paintbrush kept wobbling in her hand. 

“Oh for Christ * _hic_ * sakes,” she grumbled, knocking over a jar of bottle green paint while trying to put the brush down. “Get me some * _hic_ * paper towels!”

Therese ripped off a few sheets from the holder and helped clean up the spill that was slowly making its way onto the linoleum. Carol fastened the metal cap jar back tightly and grabbed all of the paintbrushes and tubes and jars she used to work on the dollhouse project for her daughter. 

“Let’s call it * _hic_ * call it * _hic_ * I’m done!” Carol snapped. 

Both sitting up in bed, Therese rolled over to drape her arm around Carol’s lacy silk waistband of her nightgown and nuzzled her bare shoulder while Carol was eyeing through a Sears & Roebuck catalog through her reading glasses.

“I love you, and your hiccups,” Therese announced, inhaling the green tea scented bar of soap Carol used for her nightly bath. 

“I love you * _hic!_ * too.”

Therese glanced down at the catalog watching Carol circle a few different items with a pencil for her wishlist. She wanted a new hubcap for the car, curtains for the living room, tumblers for guests for those who wanted drinks, and a new seat cover for the toilet in the bathroom. Every now and then, her body would give out hiccup spasms. She let out a frustrated cry with Therese nestling closer beside her.


End file.
